Improved vessel of war



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J. S. UNDERHILL, OF NET YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED VESSEL` OF WAR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 46,037, dated January24, 1865.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, J. t. UNDEEHILL, of the city., county, and State ot'New York, have invented a new and usetul Improvement in the Constructionot' Vessels ot' lVar and Fortiiications; and l do hereby declare thatthe following is a l'ull, clear, and exact description ot' the same,reference being had to the accompanying' drawings, forming part ot' thisspecification, in which- Figure lisa central vertical section ot" aturret constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a transversesection, on a much smaller scale, illustrating the application ot' myinvention to the plating ot' the side ot' a war vessel.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothtigures.

This invention consists, in the construction ot' the turrets for vesselsor batteries and ot' the armor t'or the hulls or other parts ot vesselsof war, ot' plates arranged horizontally, or nearly so, with their edgesinward and out ward and secured together by bolts which pass throughthem in a vertical or nearly vertical direction` in combination withvertical plates, applied in the mannerhereinafter speci- 'lied, toprevent the penetration ot' projectiles in the joints between thehorizontal plates.

To enable others skilled in the art to apply my invention to use, l willproceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

ln the construction ot' turrets the whole structure may be composed otplates c a, arranged horizontally one upon another, as hereinbet'orementioned, and illustrated in Fig. Il, and bolts b b', passingvertically or upward and downward through holes drilled in the saidplates. On thc lett-hand side of Fig. l the plates are represented asall secured together by a single bolt7 I), long` enough to pass throughthe whole series, and on the righthand side they are shown as secured byshorter bolts, b, each passing through several ot' the series. l proposeto alternate the longer and shorter bolts. rEhe plates are so arrangedthat their ends break joint with cach other. rilhe thickness of theturret may be composed of single plates ot' suitable width, as shown atthe left-hand ot Fig. l, and in the upper part ot' the right sidethereof; but in the lower part ot' the latter side the thickness isrepresented as composed otl plates of unequal width arranged to breakjoint. The lower part is represented of greater thickness than the upperpart, and near the top two of the platrs are represented of greaterwidth and projecting externally to t'orm a ledge i'or the suppoit ot'the root' of the turret.

In applying my invention to the armor-plating of the hullot` a vessel astout double-angle plate, c, is bolted to the hull ot the vessel at asuitable distance below the water-line for the support of the plates,and the bolts b are inserted through this angle-plate and bent tocorrespond with the vertical curvature of the side otI the vessel.

To prevent pointed shot from enteringl between and wedging apart theplates a 0,1 apply to the exterior of the plating one or morethicknesses ot vertical plates, d d, by screwing them to the plates a aby short screws e c.

The system ot' plates a a, by supl'iorting one another, make a verystrong structure for turrets, and when used as armor for the hulls donot strain the vessel like plates which are bolted through the hull, andin either application the bolts cannot be started by the impact ot'projectiles. the advantage of which, more especially in the case ot'turrets, has been deu'ionstratcd by recent experience.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

rlllie combination of the horizontal plates ct a, vertical bolts b b',vertical plates d d, and screws e c, all constructed, applied, andsecured in the manner and for the purposes herein specilied.

J. S. UNDERHH.

Yitnesses J. W. Cocinas, GEO. W. REED.

